Is fake grass the bee’s knees?
Artificial grass was banned at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, but as scorching temperatures parch once-beautiful lawns, is fake turf the answer?
At Alaster Anderson our view is: “Definitely not!”
It’s true that artificial grass companies make (often extravagant) claims for their products. “Today’s artificial grass is nearly identical to the real thing,” they say, a far cry from the ghastly stuff you might see at the local greengrocer’s.
The fact that plastic grass never needs mowing and watering makes it low maintenance, friendly and cost-effective, they argue. It saves on fertilisers, grass seeds and tools, remains pristine year round, and does not turn to mud after heavy rain.
Booming business
It can be appealing to those with shaded gardens or who want to cover urban rooftops and balconies; families with children; and older or disabled people who struggle to maintain a garden.
And the fact that fake grass is now a £2bn global market suggests that many agree.
It has been estimated that 8million m2 of artificial grass is sold for UK gardens every year – about 2,000 acres (or 2,000 football-pitch-size slabs of plastic, as detractors would say.)
The claims that artificial lawns are eco-friendly gets short shrift from many experts.
“The only green thing about fake grass is its colour”
‘The only green thing about fake grass is its colour. I hate it,’ says Carol Klein, BBC Gardeners’ World presenter. ‘It is really awful ecologically. It’s just horrid.’
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) explained its Chelsea ban for similar reasons: 'We launched our sustainability strategy last year and fake grass is just not in line with our ethos and views on plastic. We recommend using real grass because of its environmental benefits, which include supporting wildlife, mitigating flooding and cooling the environment.’
Bad for wildlife
Others agree. Paul Hetherington, fundraising director for the charity Buglife, has argued against plastic grass because: ‘It blocks access to the soil beneath for burrowing insects, such as solitary bees, and the ground above for soil dwellers such as worms, which will be starved of food beneath it. It provides food for absolutely no living creatures.’
Guy Barter, RHS chief horticulturist, has added: ‘Not only does it not provide any of the environmental benefits of grass – like soaking up moisture, home for insects, feeding birds, self-sustaining – its life isn’t that long. It gets trampled on and quite soon looks poor. It can’t be relaid or reseeded; it has to be rolled up, lifted and sent to landfill … There are better solutions that would give people more pleasure than looking out at a sheet of slowly degrading plastic.'
“There are better solutions that would give people more pleasure than looking out at a sheet of slowly degrading plastic”
Landfill is usually the end-of-life option because artificial lawns are made by bonding several types of plastics together and therefore particularly difficult to recycle.
Danger of overheating
Other problems with fake grass include:
Not always maintenance-free, it still has to be cleared of litter and moss growth, and some owners plug in a vacuum cleaner rather than a lawnmower.
It has been calculated that 50 percent of rainfall runs straight off some types of artificial lawns (while real grass absorbs nearly every drop). This can lead to overflowing drains and flooding.
Fake grass can also can overheat in summer. A Loughborough University study found its artificial sports pitch often reached 65c when the air temperature hit 25c – almost hot enough to fry an egg, and a potential danger for young families and pet owners.
The advantages of real grass
Real grass, on the other hand, is 100% natural, provides a home for wildlife, releases oxygen, absorbs noise and reduces flood risk. Grass is pretty robust and can tolerate drought conditions. The turf grasses will turn brown and stop growing but will recover rapidly once rain returns.
And as our Head of Maintenance Joe Sinclair-Hoyle explains in this blog, he loves to cut interesting shapes into a lawn. “My favourite part of the job is lawn care, because I love to change it up so the client comes home to find their lawn looking different!” he says.
For those seeking a natural alternative to grass, Alaster Anderson can advise on tolerant shrubs, such as evergreen bushes, to provide greenery all year round in gardens (they also give frogs and hedgehogs safe cover in urban streets); and on planting wildflower meadows for an unbeatable combination of beauty and low maintenance.
In the words of Lynne Marcus, Chair of the Society of Garden Designers: ‘Gardens are wildlife habitats and provide nectar for pollination and they also have powerful mental and physical healing properties. Why, with these factors in mind, do people still rip out living lawns and install artificial grass?’
Contact us to help you with your London garden. You can reach us on 0207 305 7183 or email at enquire@alasteranderson.com
